1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photoelectric conversion device using an oxide containing lead and chromium (hereinafter referred to as "Pb-Cr oxide"), and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is generally known, a photoelectric conversion device employing a pn or pnp junction semiconductor element or a semiconductor-metal junction element has been widely used. Such a photoelectric conversion device is capable of generating an electromotive force and hence does not need any external electromotive force.
During the study of oxide dielectrics, the applicant of the present invention discovered the photoelectric conversion phenomena of dielectrics and made an application for patent on a photoelectric conversion device employing a conductive layer of a Pb-Cr oxide (Japanese patent application No. 53-20583, Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-35874). In this prior photoelectric conversion device, the incident light is converted into an electric current by an oxide, and the electric current flows through a conductive layer outside the photoelectric conversion device. When the oxide is formed in a thin film, the oxide exhibits a photosensitive property and generates an electromotive force corresponding to the intensity of the incident light, and when the oxide is formed in a thick film, the oxide exhibits an electricity storage effect.
A method of manufacturing the photoelectric conversion device disclosed in the foregoing patent application comprises forming a sintered body by sintering a mixture of lead oxide and chromium oxide, and forming a conductive layer on the sintered body.
This method employing a sintering process, however, has problems that the reduction in thickness of the thin film of a dielectric body is limited to a certain extent and that it is difficult to form a uniform thin film not having excessive pores. Furthermore, the thin dielectric film manufactured by the method is unable to transmit light and hence unable to serve as an element of various photoelectric conversion devices of high conversion efficiency.